


Everything's Alright (As Long As We're Together)

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: SPN AU Bingo [45]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accepting for a Bunch of Judgmental Assholes Anyway, College Student!Castiel, Coming Out, Engagement, Interior Designer!Sam, M/M, accepting family, culture clash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 06:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18867184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: At Stanford, Castiel hid who he was.  Yes, most of the kids here came from money, because that’s who had access to the tutors and the prep schools and the wink wink “donations” to help put their kids over the top.  Financially, Castiel didn’t stand out, but culturally, he did.  A lot of his classmates would treat him differently if they knew who his grandfather was.And yet, it would be less of an annoyance than being exposed back home.  At Stanford, Castiel could be gay.  He could check out men, ignore women who flirted with him, and be much happier than he was back home.  He could even have a boyfriend.  He did have a boyfriend.Which is what made tonight both special and terrifying.  Tonight, his family was coming to visit.  His worlds were going to collide.





	Everything's Alright (As Long As We're Together)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SPN AU Bingo  
> Square: Interior Designer!Sam
> 
> Written for Good Things Happen Bingo  
> Square: Coming Out
> 
> Written for SPN Fluff Bingo  
> Square: Coming Out

Sam was an awesome guy. He’d already graduated, but Castiel’s parents were paying for a two-bedroom apartment, so Sam didn’t have to worry about leaving. Interior design skills meant he could work in a lot of places, and Castiel’s connections meant that Sam ended up with clients who could afford to pay him well.

Right now, Sam was busy putting the finishing touches on a church that had needed to be rebuilt after a fire. Sam had jumped at the chance to work on the project. Castiel was hoping it would be finished today, so that Sam wouldn’t have that on his mind tonight. He was going to need Sam at his best tonight, because he was going to be freaking the fuck out and would need his boyfriend beside him.

It wasn’t encouraging when Sam took the time to carefully close the door behind him instead of just letting it swing shut. Castiel wrapped his arms around him. “What’s wrong?”

“One of the people who thinks that the church can’t possibly make any decisions without her showed up to ‘inspect’ the church, and she hates everything and had a long list of suggestions for how to fix it.” Castiel flinched and held Sam tighter. He couldn’t even begin to imagine dealing with someone like that. “Thankfully, the pastor said that he trusted the expert over the busybody. She was offended and stormed out and the pastor didn’t seem to mind a bit.”

“But now you’re going to have to make a couple changes ‘to keep the peace’?” Castiel guessed. Sam nodded. “How bad?”

“Not bad, really. They’re too close to their budget limit to redo the carpet or the wallpaper or anything major like that. Should be able to get everything done tomorrow, if I’m not so worn out by the meeting tonight that I can barely do anything.” Sam pulled away from Castiel, heading for their bedroom. “How am I supposed to dress for this? Do I have to break out the full suit?”

“I’m going to, but I’ll have the trench coat on pretty much the whole time. Grandfather and Father will almost certainly be in suits, but if Uncle Gabriel comes, I can’t imagine him wearing anything but jeans or shorts.” He wouldn’t put it past Gabriel to show up in a clown suit, or a baseball uniform. If it weren’t for Michael, he wouldn’t even rule out Gabriel showing up in a birthday suit to celebrate Castiel’s birthday. “Wear whatever will make you most comfortable.”

“Dean would tease me for this forever, but I’m wearing the suit, then.” Sam pulled it out of the closet. “Hey, Cas? You know, you don’t have to go through with this. You don’t have to introduce me as your boyfriend.”

“Yes, I really do.” For one thing, Sam was the one person who knew the full truth about Castiel. Finding out who Castiel’s family was hadn’t changed much about Sam’s opinion of Castiel, but it had made him feel awkward and unworthy of Castiel’s love. There was no way Castiel was going to make that worse by hiding their relationship from anyone. “Sam, if tonight is not a total disaster, if there’s even a glimmer of hope that we can make something work when we see where the pieces fall, I intend to ask you to marry me.”

Sam dropped the pants he was trying to put on, staring at Castiel with one leg raised. “Are you serious? You want to marry me?”

“I’m serious. So you must understand why I have to do this. It’s hardly fair to ask you to commit to a situation when you don’t know what it’s going to be.”

Sam shook his head, smiling as he picked up his pants and tried again to put them on. “Isn’t that what the whole ‘for better or for worse’ part of the wedding vows is about? We have no way of knowing what’s coming for us but we know that we’re best off facing it together?”

“True, but in this case, we can know. I just have to come out to my family and introduce my boyfriend that I know they’re going to look down on.” Castiel reached for his tie, straightening the knot. That was the worst part of all of this. His family was going to share Sam’s view of his worthiness. While he didn’t think that would be enough to change Sam’s mind about the only opinion of worth that mattered being Castiel’s, he was not looking forward to seeing the damage done to Sam.

 

Castiel clutched at Sam’s hand when they got to the house his family had rented for the month. This was so much more than he’d expected. His parents and grandfather, he’d been certain of, and Gabriel was certainly expected. Raphael was a surprise, as was the sheer number of cousins who were there. If this went badly, things were going to get very awkward very quickly. It was a good thing he’d insisted on driving himself instead of having Michael come get him.

“Happy birthday, Castiel,” Michael said. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Father.” Castiel turned to face his grandfather and bowed. “Grandfather.”

Chuck got to his feet, head tilted slightly as he studied Sam. If Chuck had any opinion on Sam’s looks, it wasn’t showing at all, as his face remained blandly neutral. “Castiel. Who’s your companion?”

“This is Sam Winchester. Sam, my grandfather.”

Sam bowed the way Castiel had taught him when Chuck first told him he was coming to California. “Your majesty. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Well, Castiel’s taught you some passable manners, at least.” Castiel gritted his teeth. He was not going to start something over what could be just a poorly-thought-out observation. “How do you know my grandson?”

“His freshman year of college, he and I were both taking introductory chemistry. We were assigned as lab partners, and nothing brings people together like a shared struggle. We became friends, and when Castiel moved out of the dorms and my former roommate had become a very different person than the one I’d agreed to share an apartment with, he suggested that the two of us become roommates.” Truth, albeit incomplete. By the time they’d moved in together, they’d started dating.

“I can see that. That doesn’t explain why he brought you here, though. Castiel, would you care to clarify?”

Castiel reached for Sam’s hand again, and Sam gave it a squeeze. “I brought Sam because he and I have been dating for the past three years. He’s my boyfriend. We are in a very serious romantic relationship.”

“Can’t be too serious if you haven’t bothered to introduce him to your family in three years,” Gabriel scoffed. “Or is that why you brought him? Get that out of the way so you can get properly serious?”

Castiel stiffened, but this was the uncle he could least afford to offend. Raphael hated him anyway. If he lost Gabriel’s good will, there was no way this would go well. “Sam, my uncle Gabriel. Uncle, I’m sure you can figure out why I waited as long as I could.”

“Haven’t a clue. Sure, your boy’s not exactly royalty or what passes for it in America, but he’s cute, he’s smart enough to keep up with you, and he’s pretty darn good at his job. I swung by a church this afternoon that just got finished remodeling, and they told me it was your boy who did it. Loved your work, Sam. Don’t change a thing.” Gabriel winked at them. “So, what’s the problem?”

“I think he’s referring to the fact that Sam is a boy,” Michael said. “Castiel, we know. Did you think we haven’t been keeping an eye on you? Just in case you got in trouble?”

Gabriel waved. “You didn’t ever see me, apparently, but I’ve been around. Decided to spare you the blowout and let everyone know when it started looking like Sam was here to stay. You can be mad at me all you want, outing you was kind of a douche move, but I figured the good would outweigh the bad. Mikey got the ranting out of the way and I was able to knock some sense into him before you had to deal with him.”

Castiel just stared. He felt like he should be angry, but right now all he could feel was confusion. This was not how the night was supposed to go. It was much better, but right now, his brain was still stuck in panic mode. Sam squeezed his hand. “In that case, may I ask if the rest of you share Gabriel’s opinion?”

“More or less,” Michael said. “Gabriel has us convinced that you’re convinced he’s worthy of you, and since Gabriel agrees, we’re all willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.” A pause. “Lucifer wants to meet him. I would advise against it.”

“Yeah, no, we are not going to let Samsquatch near Lucifer,” Gabriel said. “Sam, you don’t want to meet that dick, he’s an idiot who’s already getting obsessed with you.”

Castiel nodded. “It is a bad idea, Sam. I only met him once myself, when I was sixteen, and I didn’t feel clean from it until I left for school.”

“Fair enough, then. As long as your father and grandfather and Prince Gabriel accept me, that’s enough for you to be happy, right?”

“Yes.” Castiel smiled and turned back to Chuck. “Let’s see how far this acceptance goes. If I marry Sam, will I have to relinquish my title?”

Behind Chuck, Castiel watched Balthazar collecting money from Rachel and Ezekiel. There was a reason Balthazar was his favorite cousin. “Well, you’ll put Sam in an awkward position, isn’t there something about Americans having to give up their citizenship if they want to accept a title from a foreign country? We don’t have to give him a title, of course, but why wouldn’t we want to?”

“Oh.” Castiel raised an eyebrow at Sam. “Is that too hard a decision for you to refuse to marry me?”

“Not at all. After all, we’d have to look into it to make sure it’s even a decision I have to make. Naming me king of a foreign country would be a problem, but I don’t know about courtesy titles for spouses.”

Finally, Castiel could relax and let himself enjoy this. It was the best scenario he could have hoped for, if he’d ever let himself hope that something this good could happen to him. “Good. Then will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

BZRRAAAAAAAAAAAA! Castiel and Sam both jumped and turned to see Gabriel with a noisemaker. Sam burst into laughter. “I guess, technically, this is a birthday celebration too, so…”

“Really, we should have expected that,” Castiel agreed. “Gabriel is ridiculous. You’ll get used to him.”

“Sounds like – although I’m worried about what happens when he meets Dean. That can’t be good for anyone.”


End file.
